People

Mumbai’s growth since the 1940s has been steady if not phenomenal. At the turn of the 20th century its population was some 850,000; by 1950 it had more than doubled; and over the next 50 years it increased nearly 10-fold to exceed 16 million. The city’s birth rate is much lower than that of the country as a whole because of family-planning programs. The high overall growth rate is largely attributable to the influx of people in search of employment. Because of the limited physical expanse of the city, the growth in Mumbai’s population has been accompanied by an astounding increase in population density. By the start of the 21st century the city had reached an average of some 68,500 persons per square mile (26,500 per square km). Settlement is especially dense in much of the city’s older section; the wealthy areas near Back Bay are less heavily populated.

Economy

Mumbai is the economic hub and commercial and financial centre of India. Its economic composition in some respects mirrors India’s unique mosaic of prosperity and technological achievement vis-à-vis impoverishment and underdevelopment. While Mumbai contains the Indian Atomic Energy Commission’s establishment, with its nuclear reactors and plutonium separators, many areas of the city continue to rely on traditional biogenic sources of fuel and energy (such as cow dung).

Manufacturing

Although cotton textile manufacturing, through which Mumbai prospered in the 19th century, remains important, it has lost much ground to newer industries, especially since the late 20th century. Production of metals, chemicals, automobiles, and electronics along with a host of ancillary industries are now among the city’s major enterprises. Other manufacturing activities, such as food processing, papermaking, printing, and publishing, also are significant sources of income and employment.

Finance and other services

The Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, is located in Mumbai. A number of other commercial banks, a government-owned life insurance corporation, and various long-term investment financial institutions also are based in the city. All these institutions have attracted major financial and business services to Mumbai.

The Bombay Stock Exchange is the country’s leading stock and share market. Although a number of economic hubs sprang up around the country since independence and reduced the exchange’s pre-independence stature, it remains the preeminent centre in volume of financial and other business transacted and serves as a barometer of the country’s economy.

Transportation

Mumbai is connected by a network of roads to the rest of India. It is the railhead for the Western and Central railways, and trains from the city carry goods and passengers to all parts of the country. Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is an important point of entry for many international flights, and nearby Santa Cruz Airport accommodates domestic traffic. Mumbai handles some three-fifths of India’s international flights and nearly two-fifths of its domestic flights. The facilities provided by the city’s harbour make Mumbai India’s principal western port. Although other major ports have sprung up on the west coast—Kandla, in the state of Gujarat, to the north; Marmagao, in the state of Goa, to the south; and Kochi (Cochin), in the state of Kerala, farther south—Mumbai still handles a significant portion of India’s maritime trade. Suburban electric train systems provide the main public transportation, conveying hundreds of thousands of commuters within the metropolitan region daily. There also is a municipally owned bus fleet.

Administration and society

Government

As the capital of Maharashtra state, the city is an integral political division of the state government, the headquarters of which are called the Mantralaya. The state administers Mumbai’s police force and has administrative control over certain city departments. The central Indian government controls communication and transportation infrastructure, including the postal service, the railways, the port, and the airport. Mumbai is the headquarters of India’s western naval fleet and the base for the Indian flagship, INS Mumbai.

The government of the city is vested in the fully autonomous Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM). Its legislative body is elected on adult franchise every four years and functions through its various standing committees. The chief executive, who is appointed every three years by the state government, is the municipal commissioner. The mayor is annually elected by the MCGM; the mayor presides over corporation meetings and enjoys the highest honour in the city but has no real administrative authority.

Municipal services

The manifold functions of the city government include the provision or maintenance of medical services, education, water supply, fire services, garbage disposal, markets, gardens, and engineering projects such as drainage development and the improvement of roads and street lighting. The MCGM operates the transport system inside the city and the supply of electricity as public utilities. After obtaining electric energy from a grid system supplied by publicly and privately owned agencies, the MCGM ensures that it is distributed throughout the city. The water supply, also maintained by the municipality, comes largely from Tansa Lake, in the adjoining Thane district of Maharashtra, and secondarily from Vaitarna, Tulsi, and Vehar lakes in Mumbai.

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